Helena Harford......
is turning 31 this year !!!
holy crap ya feel old yet : (
I was 29 when the movie came out. 50 now, so yeah!
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MovieChat Forums > Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Discussion > Helena Harford......
The question is, when did she become Ziegler's mistress?
shareyeah...
the scariest/real-est moment for me was when Bill comes home after the mansion party and immediately goes to check on his daughter.
the look on his face is "there is the possibility she may become one of those women later in life..."
f ***
In Homer's The Iliad, Helen of Troy (a VERY young woman by the way) is abducted/seduced by Paris, which starts the Trojan War. Of course, the name Helena is a variant of the name Helen, and Ziegler's wife is named IIlena (another variant of Helen). The final scene in the toy store has been described by some as an "abduction scene" of Helena. However, I don't think that's quite right. We do see Helena walking away from her parents in the direction of two bald-headed men who are also walking away. The two men apppear to be played by the same actors seen at Ziegler's Christmas Party. We also see a young man with long blonde hair walk past, and he appears to be the actor who played a waiter we see walking past at the Christmas Party. I think this is meant to suggest the choices Helena may make in the future (marrying an older man for money). Like Ziegler's wife Ilena, Helena may end up a trophy wife of someone like Ziegler. There's even an abstract painting over the bed in Helena's which if you look carefully, appears to spell out the word "SEX" and depict a flaccid purple penis. Furthermore, the "abduction/seduction" of Helen of Troy does seem to parallel Alice's fantasy about abandoning her husband and daughter to run off with the naval officer.
Then there is the very first thing we see in the film, which is Alice dropping her dress in her bedroom. Against the wall of the bedroom we see two tennis racquets. At the Christmas Party, Ziegler mentions his tennis game. Isn't it odd that neither Bill nor Alice mention that they play tennis as well, if for no other reason than to make small talk? Seeing what a brown noser Bill is, you'd expect him to suggest the Zieglers and Harfords play doubles sometime. Bill and Alice not only don't suggest this, they don't mention playing tennis at all.
This opens up the question of what time period Alice's disrobing is meant to take place: does it happen the night of the party or some later point? Assuming this scene occurs on is the night of the Christmas Party is problematic, as the dress she slips out of is not the one she actually wears at the party. When did the Harfords start playing tennis and why? Does this suggest that Bill or Alice (or both) continue their relationship with the Ziegler's after all that has happened? Or perhaps, that's too literal a reading, much like the "abduction" of Helena in the toy store is too literal. Kubrick is more metaphorical and subtle than that. Perhaps he is suggesting that the Zieglers of the world, and the power they hold, is inescapable and pervasive, even though the Harford's don't seem to even be aware of it despite saying from now on they will live with their "eyes open"... but will they?
Thank you for your analysis. That was an interesting and unique perspective I haven't quite heard before.
When Bill returns home after his internal journey, he visits Helena's room. Inside, we see that there are two lamps present on each side of Helena's bed. One of the lamps is red (red in the film indicative of desire, lust, hedonism), and the other is blue (blue associated with safety, family, morality). Helena is facing the blue lamp, suggesting to the audience that because of her youth and innocence, she is 'good'. If you believe Kubrick to be the pedant he is known for, then what is even more interesting is what sort of objects are present around each lamp. On the red side, we see an abundance of objects, such as pictures of animals, grass, and plants. This symbolizes the Garden of Eden, the place of original sin. On the blue side, there is a contrast, because there are far few objects, as well as pictures of family. I believe this is highly suggestive of one of the film's revolving themes regarding more bad being present than good.
Absent further evidence in many scenes, I would agree that this may be untenably circumstantial to the morality narrative, but there are many instances in the film where we are presented with ethical decisions.
To suggest that the very beginning scene before we see the title sequence is actually a different time period from the rest of the film is interesting, but there is one detail that I believe dismisses this narrative. Alice's hair is the exact same in the beginning shot where she undresses, and the subsequent shot of her in the bathroom. I believe that the scene is actually telling the audience that our eyes are wide shut, as in we're paying attention to the allure of nudity rather than the salient points of the film and life in general.
Ultimately, if we view the party at Ziegler's as one of hedonism, superficiality, and moral impropriety, the men being shown in the beginning and the end are suggestive of the notion that bad is a ubiquitous and prevailing force, and that it is ultimately our choice to decide between whether we act good or bad.
When we first see Helena she is wearing an angel costume, is she not? That would support your innocence/sin theory. I still can't account for the two tennis racquets and why the Harfords don't mention that they play - nor do we ever see raquets in their house again.
shareYes, that is indeed a peculiar detail.
If the beginning scene is somehow set in a different time period, and the tennis rackets suggest that the Harfords continue their relationship with the Zieglers, then it would actually reify the ending, where both Bill and Alice ultimately decide to continue on their path of "red."
Alice teaches Helena how to subconsciously choose men based on their status. Bill revolts at people of lower status than him. They are both materialists, and this overt concentration on the temporal has diluted any sort of spirituality within them.
In the ending scene, the final piece of dialogue is Alice telling Bill that they need to have sex as soon as possible. While Bill and Alice aren't necessarily bad people in the conventional sense, they are still participants in their pursuit of hedonism, and their entire plight throughout the film is them attempting to reconcile this fact, unknowingly. In the end, there is no spiritual growth for either character, and they have chosen the red path, just like the bald men in the mall, who are representative of the world, writ large.
Given that, even if the ending suggests that perhaps Bill and Alice divorce, or Alice goes has gone off with Ziegler, the morality tale is still there.